ORIGIN

Something Real: 1963 AC Ace Roadster

4/9/2012 Update: This AC Ace has now had its price dropped to $79,900/offer here on eBay. How low does this have to go before someone jumps on it, possibly with plants to revert it to stock conficuration? Special thanks to BaT reader Iwan L. for this update!

From 11/5/2011:

This 1963 roadster is said to be 1956 AC Ace chassis AEX198, which was given a Ford V8 swap in the early 60’s as well as other Cobra-esque modifications. The seller states that the car was re-titled as a 1963 when the car was completed, the same year new Ace production ceased. The car remains all aluminum and has a Jaguar independent rear suspension fitted. Find it here on eBay in Indianapolis, Indiana for $98,900 or offer. Special thanks to BaT reader Bob W. for this submission!

The body contours and grille opening are not to exact Cobra specs, which is actually fine. The only problem is the car runs the risk of looking like a inaccurate Cobra kit, of which there are many out there.

The interior looks quite clean and very similar to many Cobras. Seats and carpets look quite good, but it would be very interesting to look at a stock AC Ace for reference.

The engine bay definitely looks vintage, with exposed frame tubes, data plates and sheet aluminum. We like the slender white headers, maybe in a sort of Daytona Coupe kind of way, but would do our best to take the entire engine in a vintage aesthetic direction. Go back to the small diameter distributor cap in black with black wires, source standard metal fuel line, cloak or replace the alternator, and find and air cleaner similar to the earliest Cobras.

Our real preference would be to take the car back to a narrow bodied Ace on wire wheels and Dunlop race tires. Even with the V8, that would be a look you don’t see very often, but it would take some aluminum forming skills and new paint.

100 Comments

What a great set of comments about this Ac ACE! I have owned two AC that had V8’s installed and they were awful to drive. I have not seen one that would hold up to my Bristol or AC powered six cylinder cars for their proper balance or sound. I just can’t get how someone thinks that they can spend $80,000 for this car. I would pay $50,000 but then I have a source for another proper 6 and the transmission and most of the parts to put it right. Off first thing – the scoop, the flares and everything else that makes it look, feel and sound like a plastic Cobra wanna be car. I am not bashing fiberglass bodied cars anymore than I am good copies of Fabergé or Tiffany. I can’t afford the real thing for a lot of things but I certainly don’t frame my Audubon’s in lucite and go for the Warhol look either. If anyone decides to buy this car – give me a ring. I can help you to source parts and not have to spend $30k on the engine and trans implant.

@ Laupstad: we completely agree that it’s about daring to use it. I know guys who’re afraid to drive rather common cars for fear of disturbing their concours condition. And I know other guys who’ll hop into a multi-million dollar vintage Ferrari and drive it just about any chance they get; the respect history, and drive within limits so a not to unduly endanger the car, but they never forget it’s just a car and was made to be driven. .

So I’d say it’s more a matter of mindset than modern feel. And for me it’s also about experiencing a classic car the way it felt and drove at the time, even if that means the cheapest Hyundai can blow its doors off on the freeway.

And I’m thankful that not everyone is willing to make those compromises–that not everyone is looking for the same things in a driving experience. There are already enough guys chasing after every interesting car. If we all thought exactly the same way, it’d be a nightmare…

My first post can essentially be ignored to be honest, it was a result of me not having up to date prices on replicas in my head. They’re few and far between on this rock, and i checked afterwards how much the later ones cost.

License plates are expensive, and damn near impossible to get, here on kit-cars so this one is a clear candidate for import atleast.

I’d be well chuffed if a replica drove like the real deal, it’s about DARING to use it as it was intended, not how it feels. But that’s another matter.

@ Laupstad: I suppose it depends on what you mean by “nice replicas”, but period conversions like this are almost certainly rarer. I’m not at all sure, though, that this one would get you into any vintage racing series.

In any case, a great deal of the world thinks as you do–that a replica that drives more like a modern car is preferable to a genuine old car that drives like, well, an old car. And we apparently disagree on which of those is a “better” driving experience. Fortunately, there are plenty of interesting cars in the world, and plenty of room for both opinions.

I don’t know where you got the impression that i could afford a real Cobra, I don’t see how i will with current developments.

I even hinted that a replica is the way to go rather than this, but after checking more current prices and filtering the nicer cars i found that this one isn’t too far off the price of a replica anyway.

@ Laupstad, I am glad you can afford a real Ace or Cobra, for those who cannot, we must consider these options. I have been tempted by replicas, but I would certainly pay more for not quite as nice old car. And the nice replicas are so very rare in the US, under 1 percent, that these compromised originals should be considered.

@ Ed L, Yep, that was the one to have, but you knew that and know that. I have let one or two cars go that I wish I had now, but it sounds like your experience is something that most of us only aspire to. Thanks for your insight, as always. For me, this one is a not so near miss, too much to consider doing. I guess it was a crash repair at the time and what was done to the front of the car, both body and suspension, were probably pretty bad ideas. There was a very nice period Aceca conversion at Fantasy Junction last year, I even went out to see it. Once they and I figured out what really needed to be done it sold almost instantly.

I understand completely why it was done in the period, and it’s very cool that this is one of them, but it’s just that we have replicas for that now. This is kneither fish nor fowl when it comes to real, it’s not a Cobra and nor is it worth more than an AC minus the cost of putting it back.

To me atleast, if i wanted an Ace, i’d get a stock one. If i wanted a Cobra i’d get a real one. If i wanted a hotrod toy, i’d get a replica i can put in the barriers at a racetrack without destroying a piece of history.

I’m not the “caretaker” kind of classic car guy, though i do take care of my cars. I’m a driver, and i don’t see this one giving me a better driving experience than a replica. Nor will i be walking away with prizes at Pebble Beach, the local AC chapter meeting or even be let in a Shelby meet.

Obviously it will be worth more than a good replica, i’m guessing this one would qualify for historic racing of some variety, wich replicas wont, yes? It would need preparations for that, but atleast the opportunity is there. And if you can afford it, there is nothing wrong with putting real classic in the wall either, everything can be fixed.

After a tiny bit of checking around i have to say that already, with the prices around here atleast, this one is already damn near the price bracket of a (Extremely) good replica.

@ laupstad: with all due respect, I’d disagree about this not being worth more than a good Cobra replica.

As some of us remember, this was the sort of conversions we saw in the mid-‘60s (minus some easily reversed modern details), when Cobras were the hottest thing, and almost nobody wanted a “slow” Ace, with it’s uninspiring AC engine. You could sell an Ace with the Bristol engine, and the one car I most regret letting get away was an Ace 2.6 Ruddspeed, for $1250 in 1972. But an AC-engined one like this was the donor of choice. And (assuming of course it’s documented as a period conversion with correct parts) that maeks it real.

And in a similar situation, a wise friend of mine once observed that it’s better to have a real “something” than a replica “something better.”

24938? Is that where it was? In any case I would love to see the pictures of your friend’s Elan. My Elan is progressing well enough, I think. At some point I figured out that I was not as good a mechanic as I had fooled myself into thinking I was, and now, the little bug I have owned for 27 years is in more competent hands.

@ Elanguy: More like 24938 which, I agree, is not heavily burdened with Gullwings in very many driveways. The guy I mentioned with the Elan also is restoring a Sabra. I have pix of it, too. The Elan of course is BRG over tan.

THANK YOU for the Veloce site link. I had a sweet 1300 Giulietta which is when I learned to always park on a hill.

and another Gullwing story. Less fun than yours. September of 2004 I am in Newport RI at a Gullwing club gathering (this is my job, somebody has to do it, so it’s me) I walk across the field, about 45-50 cars I guess. And I see a car that has a bit of paper in the rear window I recognize. In 1972 it was permitted to be moved from one place to another just 40 miles south of where I have lived for the last 30 years. And this is quite the rural area, more “Deliverance” than 90201. Well I am being a bit unfair. I ask the owner about the car, he tells me about buying it, and yes, just down the road from where I live. I ask about the restoration and he says it’s kinda odd. It was the filthiest car he had ever seen, but no, he had just cleaned it up, very much cleaning, but that was all. And this car was quite as nice as Ralph Lauren’s Gullwing, no excuses. A 100 point car. So I said that he must have gotten quite a bargain. But he said no, he had paid full retail. What do I know, nothing.

@ Don Struke, amazing, I missed that race, at 14 or 15 we don’t get to do everything we want to. I did get these photos a while before that,http://www.velocetoday.com/lynch-at-lockbourne-1953/ But as you can figure out, although I have the negatives I did not take the pictures, one year old baby doesn’t shoot this well. But it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Re Cumberland (many stories) once while enroute there (from Altoona) somewhere below Bedford we came upon a 300SL Gullwing that had been rolled the night before. Not much damage and not many years later I was having wheels built in Laurel, Md, for a TR-3 E Prod race car. While the shop owner was on the phone I wandered out back and saw a primered SL obviously parked for some time. “What’s the deal on the Gullwing?” “Guy had me work on it and he never paid. I have the title. If you want it you can have it for $3,800.” Pretty sure it was the same car.

Fwiw a good friend of mine in SoCal has restored an Elan. Be glad to e-m pix if you want. Also just found my shots of Jackie Stewart in the Lotus Cortina at Marlboro, so I guess I’ll hop on the LoCort posts from a few days ago and offer those, too.

@ Don Struke, Thanks for the post. I am sure a lot of us know a bit about the era, and Cumberland SCCA races even though we were a bit too young to attend. I grew up near the track at Marlboro so I have an affinity to those early days. Thanks

Speaking of being old: I have the good/bad fortune to be old enough to have known one of the country’s better AC Ace (Bristol) campaigners back when, Ross Wees (from Claysburg, Pa.). He and his uncle, Arch Means, ran two cars on the East Coast, only for 11 races but he won two and podiumed five more. I’d love to ask him what his been there-done that-raced this reaction is, but he joined the navy and was killed in a mid-air near Lemoore, Cal. I mention this only as a small tribute to a fellow gearhead. Oh, this too: He raced a car at the Cumberland SCCA races I am sure no one posting here has heard of (well, pretty sure): Walt Martin’s Papier Mache Special, built by the Cumberland High School shop class (you cannot make this stuff up) and packing a 740 cc Crosley engine. It kinda resembled a C-Jag but weighed under 900 lbs. It ran one race (Akron, Ohio) in the rain and despite the crowd’s concern about the “little paper car” it held up OK, thanks to rubberized paint and a lot of wax. It’s in the book “Vintage American Road Racing Cars 1950-1969″ by Harold Pace and Mark Brinker. So, here’s to you, Ross. I still owe you that coffee.

Is it just me or did they get the front end entirely wrong? I think I might need to correct that, and some or all of the suspension. Of course a good long drive might allay the suspension fears. That said, period conversions seem to bring over $100k these days, still quite a discount from a stock Ace. And this one needs a lot to get to that point. But I feel that there is something to be said for an old one over a replica, both are nice, but they are different. As for bringing this back to an AC Ace, remember it was an AC engined car not a Bristol. I think it will not pencil out for a while.

There was a period of time when the value of the proper Cobra far exceeded the value of a “plain” Ace so, as has been pointed out, many Aces were Cobra-ized. One could simply buy an Ace and defile it for far less money that you would spend on a Cobra. The intended result would be a car that one could pass off as a real Cobra to anyone but the educated observer. While it wasn’t the case in the mid-sixties, there are now so many fakes, kit cars and continuation cars out there, one always assumes “fake” when one sees a Cobra. This one fits right in with the crowd. Buy it and enjoy it or spend $100k to revert it back to what it started life as. Either way, given where proper Ace prices are at the moment, you likely won’t lose money after all is said and done…

Quite a day when a real AC Ace can be mistaken for a poor Cobra replica.

Ever since replica Cobras became plentiful and easier to come by, i can’t see a hotrod like this being worth MORE than a well done replica. It certainly isn’t to me. This one has quite some way to fall before it ends up in the pricerange of Cobra replicas in this condition. Being an original Ace it’s likely to not fall that low and rather get put back to stock once the price gets justifiable.

Cue up the song “The way we were”. A friend had a nice AC in the 70’s. Left it with me while he resettled. I was looking at it through my 70’s glasses and thinking of doing the same thing. Kind of a back door Cobra thing. As one poster said,think of it as a street rod, period street rod in fact. It isn’t ever going to be an AC again or grow up to be a Cobra.

This contraption does not grant you access to the exclusive Cobra owners club. You will need a CSX 2xxx or CSX 3xxx serial number for that. Reverting back to the original Ace configuration would be your only hope here, and you’ll need a lot more than hope to pull that off. I shudder at the thought of what the underpinnings of this devise may look like. Front halfed with MII/Pinto bits and back-halfed with a Jag IRS. I question the value of a period attempt at making an Ace into a Cobra, especially if the job was poorly engineered, if engineered at all.

Wow,Tough crowd ! I see this as a very worthwhile project ,and a -relatively-inexpensive way to join the exclusive club of original Cobra owners.Maybe $40k to return to original ?(I do have a very good aluminum guy).Value when finished ??? I’m thinking $200k minimum but I’m open to informed opinions. As far as explaining “what it is”,isn’t “the car Shelby started with for his project”a pretty good answer?

guys….price dropped to $79,900. I think they kind of realised with all these comments that this one, although still a wonderful car, is actually a hodgepodge of parts. There is an CSX 4932 Cobra on ebay right now for $105,000 and that one trumps this one immensly.

If built in 1963 it could have a 289, but the first Cobra’s had the 260. The wheels would have probably been wire and skinny.

Also, if Shelby built this car it would probably have a CSX #, Shelby was and is kinda that way.

What this car is a modified ACE at best. Its neither an ACE nor a Cobra and that leads to the question, why?

I like the basic style but why spend $100k and not really have much to talk about. You could reproduce this car for $35k and essentially have the same thing. and you would not have to explain to yourself the other 65k.

Wow! I’d much prefer to own this car than any one of the plethora of Shelby Cobra reproductions out there, and at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. Better to “fake it” in this example than the other phoney knock-offs IMHO.

I remember this car from earlier (and saw my own comments on it then) I think the only thing to do with this car is buy it as cheaply as possible (and NOT for 79K, it isn’t worth that) and then begin the long process of making it into an AC Ace again- which will require getting a proper engine for it, taking out all the mods done back in the day, etc. And at the end of that time, you would have a well-done AC Ace which is worth about 150K or so, I think.

It isn’t hard to see why it is still for sale. If you want an aluminum bodied Cobra, you can get a Kirkham, or a Shelby made by Kirkham and marked up by Shelby, for not a lot more money. And you get a lot more car, and a sturdier aluminum body that doesn’t dent nearly as easily.

Sadly many AC Aces have been “Cobra-ized” over the years. But the chassis main tubes look completely wrong for an Ace — they should be 3-inch round tubes, not square tubes — and the front suspension should feature transverse leaf springs. If anyone here is serious about this car, I’d recommend you contact the AC Owners Club in England first for some background info.

I think JR nailed this back in November. I remember the period, too. And give or take a handful of cheesy details, this is exactly what happened to any number of Aces in the mid-’60s, particularly those with the mediocre in-house engine.

So it really comes down to documentation. IF it can be documented as a period conversion with real Cobra parts–not done more recently with modern repop crap–it’s hard to imagine you could go very far wrong at the reduced price. The price discount will give you some room to dump the stainless lines and the rest of the anachronistic details that just scream “kit car”.

In fact, with it now priced at about half what a decent Ace is currently bringing, there’s probably even a viable option of returning it to original spec at some point. I still have some some misgivings, but there’s nothing like a 20% knockdown to improve its appearance…

I have to agree with some… I am not to sure of this one.. it is ashame if real. Some fittings like thetwo hood releases are right out of the ERA catalog.. and this should have the same steering wheel/gear box as the first series cobras.. the teltale is the TR3-like horn/directional switch.. I am sure if the right person with the right cash bought it, it could be returned to its original condition.. it is too bad.. it was such a good looking car.

One advantage of being..old.. is that I remember when cars like this started appearing. Back in the day there wasn’t much demand for used up sports cars. .. at least not in terms of any of them retaining much value. AC Aces/Bristols were really cheap back then and so were the parts to accomplish something like this. Not that many people were hung up about keeping an old used sports car “correct” either.

Honestly, I like this for what it is. [yea, redo the newish cheapo garbage on it and put some proper period cheapo garbage back on it like it would have had.] It smells like something you would find a buddy having bought for $700 or so in 1964-8… Crude, rough in the wrong places.. all that stuff. Just the way they were. You want a car that looks perfect? Well, Kirkhams and all have been mentioned and they are wonderful cars. Yes, functionally superior to a vintage and 100% correct Cobra.. but are they better? Your call. This car is esthetically period perfect. The guys that had the money to make something like this just..right.. well, they didn’t piss around with a meat dog like this, they just bought a Cobra and ran it into the ground instead.

The August issue of Automobile mag had a report on a Mecum auction in which an authentic ’63 289 Cobra with solid documentation but an older paint job with light scratching and chrome that was good but not perfect. Same color combo as this pseudo-Cobra. The Mecum car sold for $519,400. You might be able to put this car right for $50k and have a lot of fun driving it, no matter what you tell people it is.

This is a great deal of money for a “neither fish nor fowl” car which has had a lot done other than an engine swap. Most of it not done too well, either. Real Aces with Bristol engines are going for a lot more than this. Real 289 Cobras, especially rack-and-pinion cars, go for more than half a million. This isn’t either of those- it’s got some of the worst features of both.

This isn’t a new dealer- they’ve been around for a while. The low price reflects the fact that they know what it is, and isn’t, and are hoping to do better than they deserve to do. Any dealer who has to post on their site about how much they love cars and wouldn’t own anything they wouldn’t drive etc etc etc is blowing smoke up your sunshine hole.

A real continuation Cobra, made by Kirkham, the best in the business and supplier of aluminum cars to CS, will cost you less than this one, and run rings around it. This is perhaps a 50K car on a sunny good day. God help whoever pays 98K for it, they’ve got my sympathy.

agree w/ steve.. this car has been modified in a unsympathetic , “may as wells” manner. This will be one of those attempts at kiting valuation that will look absurd in the next downturn. Smart money would have kept an original car and built a Cobra kit car to scratch whatever itch was persisting.

The proportions of this are cartoonish and no doubt is a worse handling street car than a cobra which are already piloting intensive.

Regardless of what it is or isn’t, the blue and red anodized fittings, the chrome Pep Boys air cleaner, blue plug wires, big alternator, red flip switches on the dash, and “Cobra” valve covers all scream “kit car”. The definition of “neither fish nor fowl”.

Another ‘neither fish nor fowl’ car AFAIC. The mods aren’t very pretty; and one would be better off with a very good replica Cobra, like a Kirkham. And I don’t think it’s worth the effort to ‘put it right.’

Thats why I like BaT………..if it aint supposed to be on the car and it is……….danger Will Robinsom danger.

That said I have a friend who has sitting in his basement an original unmolested Shelby Cobra…..he had sold it once and bought it back some fortyyears ago. It just sits there……..waiting…waiting …waiting …for the day it ends up on BaT

As much respect as I think we all have for the original Cobras, its mojo has been diluted with cheap fakes. To some degree, the 289’s have escaped this, but just. When a unique O.G. AC variant like this comes along (especially with some flaws as pointed out above), I’m afraid it’s just grouped in with all those fakes.

To my eyes, though, this car could be easily made into something more special – Correct the under hood bits, trade the wheels for some original wire ones (or go for something period and less “wannabe”), then correct the flares. Okay, that last one isn’t “easy” but, to me, it’s the only way to give this thing some authentic mojo.

Yeah, it’s pretty bad. I sort of want to like it (the premise doesn’t bother me a bit), but the malformed front wheel openings, too wide (or underflared) rear end, and not very attractive ‘mouth’ would require far too much effort to sort for this price. If only it had been given a bit more attention to detail.

Oh well…I looked at the BAT email and couldn’t open the page fast enough…what could have been… back in ’63 an AC ace would have been the poor man’s cousin of The Cobra… The owner no longer being able to suffer the indignity of owning a 6 cylinder curiosity cow-towed to the pressure and made the most expensive donor bodied attempt at a badly done Cobra Kit Car. what a mess

The fender flares and strange proportions don’t add much to its appeal.

But if the new owner wants to make others think it’s a real Cobra . . .

If it is registered as a ’63, then California black plates can be fitted to it which would make it look more like an authentic Cobra. California DMV won’t allow this on a newer replicas as the plates must match the YOM to be able to get them approved through DMV. Don’t know how this works in other states though.

The rear track is too wide, not the wheels. I think the XKE suspension is wider than the XJ6 which is a more common swap in Cobra replicas, street rods, etc. Also what’s up with the front wheel openings? They’re enormous! Look how much space is ahead of the front wheel. Wheels should be centered in the opening.

What a P O S . What is up with the gap in front of the front flares /wheel-openings , you can throw a cat in the gap. This is just a cobbled up car, I would rather drive a Factory 5, and I HATE them ! My Superformance was 10 times the car this thing is, and the price ??

The fact that the Cobras had the shifter bent forward while this one isn’t makes it obvious even to the most casual observer that it isn’t a Shelby.

Was the 289 even available in ’63? I thought they were all 260’s until ’64. All of those Shelby parts, the Cobra emblem, the hood scoop, etc. had to have been added much later.

If this conversion had been done by Shelby, then this car would be worth at least the asking price. He did such side jobs back then, including the prototype for the Sunbeam Tiger. It would be interesting to know who actually did the work back in the day.

Today Shelby will build for you a Cobra out of either fiberglass or aluminum – your choice. And they always advise that, if the car is going to be driven, fiberglass is the better choice. Aluminum is nice but it’s a pain to keep straight.

I like the fact that this thing dosen’t have that ugly roll bar, not much else. I looked up Cobra and AC on Hemmings. Lots of droolable machines there for a lot less dough. And just about as authentic too.

Their story doesn’t make a lot of sense. The 289 was introduced in ’63 so the swap of such a new engine isn’t very likely. Also, early Cobras weren’t very valuable as used cars in the 60s. Consequently I suspect that this Cobraesque beast came about later, maybe much later.

Shelby is so oft-copied–sometimes by Shelby itself–that the definition of “real” is a mind-boggling exercise in philosophy. Back in my magazine-writing days, I spent a week driving around in a press-fleet Shelby Mustang GT500, and was constantly asked whether it was “real.” I couldn’t help but think–a real WHAT?! And yet, that seems to be the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Heck, I daily-drive a “real” Mazda3, but it’s a heck of a lot less interesting than this “fake” Cobra or “real” Ace.

An authentic aluminum body Ace is going to cost some bucks, but the flares and tires on this one are going to have to be re-worked. As has been mentioned, it looks like a kit car. Nothing wrong in my view with 289 transplant given what Shelby did. As BAT observed, I’d take the body back closer to original, although the Halibrands (perhaps in a narrow width) are keepers. Overall, I like the subdued look and presentation from pix. Price is not too far out of ballpark given AC provenance and alloy body IMO.

In this ad terms like “Authentic Aluminum Car,” “upgraded,” “updated,” and “bends like a tin can” make me laugh. It could as accurately have a “Fairlane” badge as “Cobra.” I think it may be the most ruined Ace I’ve ever seen.

Front clip looks to be one of the ubiquitous Pinto/Mustang II front suspension conversion kits fron the street rod world. Looks like a big chink of the front frame was replaced as well. That, and the strangely-reconfigured nose have me thinking this was crashed hard at some point in it’s life.

“And I love the oil filer location, as low and as far forward as possible?? Wtf, quite the curb feeler……”

Good catch, ‘Rob F’-is it possible that it’s a titanium oil filter, and that the shower of sparks it produces during spirited driving, along with the smoke of the paint burning off the rear fender flares, will delight and amaze onlookers? I like to think that’s what the builder had in mind.

I don’t buy the drag-car theory. Rob is correct, that’s not a beam axle, it definitely appears to be MGA or B front suspension. They also would have gone with some sort of live axle rear for a drag car, rather than the Jag IRS. Someone definitely needed to spend some time narrowing that Jag rear end for this car.

You are correct mike, much of this has been changed, and not for the better….the shap and proportions are very different in the nose and tail to a real ace The oblong front wheel openings look just plain goofy, and are likely there to suit a huge scrub radius of those wheels on the MGB suspension. The rear wheel location looks too far forward leaving a giat rear overhang, the shifter location and tunnel just look odd. And I love the oil filer location, as low and as far forward as possible?? Wtf, quite the curb feeler……

Deff falls into the fish nor fowl category, and is priced far to high as such….

This looks like it may have been an old drag car at some point as the front suspension is gone and replaced by what looks to be a solid axle. I am guessing this would not be very enjoyable to drive as is, and would need some heavy modification(or return to original) to make it enjoyable around corners. That being said, V8 powered Aces are fun to drive and this could be saved with some money being thrown at it, but the amount needed makes the asking price a non starter.

what? a ruined ACE… why add foolish flares and a hood scoop .whoever did this did little research..had it been done properly and with a historical perspective, it could be worth a lot more.I agree with your assessment of taking it back . BUT .that’s gonna co$t

When I first saw this I found it tempting, period build on real Ace which would be worth twice this much in unmolested condition. Odd that they decided to swap out the suspension like the red Olds powered Aceca BaT listed last year. I would want to wring it out a bit to see if it really works. Maybe swapping the rear wheel to match the size fronts would help the looks without fouling up the handling. Oddly enough I have always had a soft spot for transverse leaf spring suspensions, even when they got the geometry wrong like Aces and Acecas. And I would like this car better if that had not been changed. But I think maybe this has been considered in the pricing on this.

If this is really an Ace, should’nt it have the transverse leaf front suspension and a worm and sector steering box? The original Cobra chassis were similar to the Ace chassis, and this looks like neither. It appears to have had both the front and the rear frame sections removed and replaced with something else, and the tunnel is very strange too. Can’t you still buy a roller CSX 4000 series Cobra Roadster for under $50,000?

Certainly a tough one to have to explain at the gas pump “Yes its real, well no it’s not a real Cobra but it is a real Ace, well no its not a Bristol and does not have its original engine or suspension but it does have a V8, well no the fender flares are not orginal but it is aluminum and no that is not the original windscreen but it’s a hoot to drive”.

lotta money for something thay’s neither here ‘nor there. It is a kit car really,or resto-mod and better ones can be had all day long for half that price. If it was stock bodied and tired, even then maybe.

Bust. Lines ruined with tires/wheels TOO big for the car. Looks like a Hot Wheels toy. Under the hood is a disappointment. What folks see in the blue/red hot rod aeroquip style lines is beyond me. 100 large will buy other cars infinitely more pleasurable to drive.